Cops: Stolen car crashes after driver bails out

A stolen car continued through a Southampton Town intersection Thursday night after the driver jumped from the vehicle and ran to avoid arrest, police said.

The car, a 2002 Mazda sedan, went through the Middle Pond Road and Dellaria Avenue intersection in Southampton about 8:50 p.m. and crashed through a split rail fence, police said, before coming to rest on a mooring anchor post at a creek.

Law enforcement units from Southampton Town, Southampton Village, Suffolk County Aviation, and the County Sheriff's K-9 units searched the area for the driver, but he was not found, police said.

The car was stolen from Union Street in Hampton Bays about 8:20 p.m., police said, and it was identified a short time later as a stolen car by a Stony Brook University officer at the Southampton campus.

University and Southampton Town police pursued the car for about 20 minutes before the bailout and crash, police said.

Southampton Town police asked that anyone with information call them at 631-728-5000, their detectives division at 631-702-2230, the Crime Tips Hotline at 631-728-3454, or through crimetips@southamptontownny.gov.